NO SHOWS FOR UNDER-16 BUNCH: Teen models should be prepared for slim pickings come the London shows in September. According to British press reports, one of the recommendations in London’s Model Health Inquiry’s interim report, set for release Wednesday, will be to ban models under 16 from walking in shows at London Fashion Week. A spokeswoman for the British Fashion Council, who set up the inquiry, declined to comment but said that the BFC had “always recommended that designers don’t use models under 16 in their shows.”

The inquiry was set up in March, after Madrid Fashion Week in September banned models with a body mass index of less than 18, and the Milan Chamber of Commerce in December introduced licenses to verify models’ age and health. The final report is to be presented in September ahead of the London shows, and the BFC spokeswoman said it was up to the BFC how the panel’s recommendations were enforced. Panel members include designers Giles Deacon and Betty Jackson, model agent Sarah Doukas and physician Adrienne Kay, clinical director of the Eating Disorders Unit at London’s Priory Hospital.

PRADA AUCTION: Prada Monday launched its first on-line auction of 24 prototypes of dresses, skirts, bags and shoes from the fall-winter 2007 collection.

However, the items were never produced in the colors, fabrics and materials that are being auctioned. Pieces will be auctioned three at a time each Monday, Wednesday and Friday until July 25. Online users will have seven days to bid on an item before bidding closes. Profits will benefit one of Italy’s main institutions for clinical medical research and care, the Fondazione San Raffaele. The project was created with AMO, Rem Koolhaas‘ think tank. The company said in a statement that it was “devised to communicate” with Prada customers, who will also be able to “playfully interact with the brand, feature an image of themselves and promote their own addresses.”

STELLA IN LONDON: Stella McCartney plans some Channel hopping. The designer, who shows her main collection in Paris, will make her debut at London Fashion Week with her activewear collection for Adidas. The Adidas by Stella McCartney spring 2008 collection will close London Fashion Week with a special event — not a runway show — on Sept. 20. A spokesman for McCartney said the London presence was the designer’s idea. He added that a new merchandise category would be launched at the event. The collection’s categories include running, gym, yoga, tennis, swimming and, most recently, dance. It is the first time that Adidas by Stella McCartney, which made its debut for spring 2005, will show in during an international fashion week.

INNER WORKINGS: Vannina Vesperini is back on the retail track. The French lingerie designer, who closed her former digs two years ago when her company underwent restructuring, said she would open a new boutique on Rue de Tournon in Paris’ 6th arrondissement this September. Designed by François Muracciole, the two-story boutique will feature a made-to-measure salon.

FLASH DANCE: At Jean Paul Gaultier’s royalty-themed couture show last Wednesday, a mysterious eight-year-old said to be the daughter of a princess was a front-row curiosity for the paparazzi. “She’s the daughter of a princess; we can’t reveal her identity,” said her so-called chaperone, who fiddled with the child’s hairstyle, retouching her makeup before, oddly, shooing off photographers. The girl was clad in a miniature Chanel jacket and handbag, knee-high boots and oversize sunglasses. Word has it she was acting as a miniature editor for a story in French daily Liberation.

Catherine Deneuve, who sat next to Pedro Almodóvar, is not one to shy away from flashes. She just finished filming “Un Conte de Noël” with her daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, and said she planned to head “far, far away” for the summer holidays.

HEAVY MEDAL: Juggling career and motherhood is second nature for popular Paris headhunter Floriane de SaintPierre — even when receiving a Legion of Honor medal from the French state. While business titan François Pinault praised her audaciousness, rigorous discipline and passionate approach to her work, de Saint Pierre’s youngest son, Gabriel, 22 months, was having none of it, rushing to her for attention. Also on hand were industrial designer Marc Newson, Azzaro designer Vanessa Seward and Nino Cerruti.

SECRET RECIPE: What’s the one thing a multimillionaire best-selling author needs to do on her downtime? “Learn to cook,” according to Silicon Valley financier Tom Perkins, Danielle Steel‘s friend and ex-husband. Steel, who sat in her habitual front-row perch at the Christian Lacroix couture show, isn’t planning to lend her prose to the joy of cooking, however. “I said I would cook something for him and he was afraid,” joked Steel, who has been busy editing her new book, “Rogue.”

A HELPING HAND: Paco Rabanne’s metallic minis may be a distant glimmer, but at a recent retrospective in Kiev, Ukraine, he took a shine to a new designer he claims is full of Eastern promise. To ease her on her way, Rabanne helped coordinate the first couture show of Ukrainian designer Vernika Jeanvi, which was shown at Paris’ Galerie Nikki. “Let’s just say I’ve taken on the role of the grandfather,” said Rabanne. Jeanvi’s collection includes a dress enrobed in metallic chains as well as a line of summer furs.

JEWEL TONES: Is Marie-Hélène de Taillac mulling an expansion into clothing? At a party for fashion editor Marko Matysik, attended by the likes of Peter Dundas, Yves Carcelle and Becca Cason Thrash, the Indian jeweler chatted about a capsule line of clothing inspired by her vibrant stones. The limited edition items, to be exhibited at Isetan in Tokyo next month, include designs by Lucien Pellat Finet, Treizeor and Indian cashmere brand Kashmirhandloom. “I even designed a kimono for it,” said de Taillac. Ramdane Touhami is also a busy bee. Having just opened a boutique called La Maison de Cire Trudon, at 78 Rue de Seine, stocking candles by venerable French wax-makers, the designer disclosed he’s behind the costumes for the avant-garde opera “Il Tempo del Postino,” which will be part of the Manchester festival later this month. The “group opera” will feature work by a host of high-wattage artists such as Matthew Barney and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster.

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